I think the idea of universal 3D creativity depends on the target market. When I look at the design area outside of “Product” design (things that people buy) most of the 3D design work is either in “game” component design or for DIY activities. And from from what I see it’s an anything goes area and it usually doesn’t require an actual item be built so in those cases whether or not the design is manufacturable or not is of no consequence. The result there is that it becomes possible for anyone to create a “Pretty” design. On the other hand (where the rubber meets the road) the constraints of being able to actually make the design hinders the idea of universal 3D creativity. Personally I am an electronics engineer and over my 30 plus years of work I have developed many products. While I am not a schooled mechanical/industrial engineer I have over the years learned to be very capable in mechanical product design. I was lucky to learn MCAD using CADAM from IBM long before Autocad. And as time went by I learned 3D using CATIA, UG, Solidworks, etc. All the while I was heavily involved with manufacturing processes used by the various companies that I worked for. Of all of my on the job training it was the understanding of actual manufacturing processes that allowed me to design product in 3D that were actually manufacturable. An old automotive engineer told me once that if you don’t know how a car is manufactured you can’t design one and he gave me all kinds of examples of young engineers who could’nt understand why their designs didn’t work. In the end, while the plethora of 3D design and analysis software available makes it possible for anyone to actual create a 3D design, these tools do not create a substitute for a trained engineer. Creating a design in 3D that is essentially a “shell” without all of the sub-components is just a picture and until the creators can actually design the sub-components as well, universal 3D won’t occur. Drawing pictures is universal, creating manufacturable 3D designs will only become universal when everyone has the ability to create all of the design components.

Finally, in order for true universality in 3D design to occur a “Standard” file format for 3D designs needs to be created and used by all MCAD vendors. Don’t see that happening anytime soon.

Regards.

]]>By: David Prawelhttps://www10.mcadcafe.com/blogs/jeffrowe/2011/12/20/universal-3d-creativity-reality-or-myth/comment-page-1/#comment-74
Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:04:26 +0000http://www10.mcadcafe.com/blogs/jeffrowe/?p=77#comment-74Jeff, I think you make some interesting points. First, on design… How many products do you try to use and wonder why the designers made it work this way? What could they have been thinking? Did they ever acually use this thing? Design is a creative process that has to be derived from a deep understanding of the experience that is being created, and then a concentration on form, fit and function to deliver that experience. This is the big thing Steve Jobs and his crew at Apple taught the world. Give customers an experience that they want to have with a product and THEN leverage technology to deliver the experience.
The second point relates to a human’s innate ability to understand 3D information. The toughest issues we have to deal with in getting people to collaborate in good design are people issues. As we think about how people share information and collaborate we also need to consider how people understand information. There was a study done a few years ago by the Johnson O’Connor research Institute. (They do cognitive research.) They found that 30% of high school educated people cannot understand 3D – they simply can’t perceive it. So if you want to implement a collaborative process to design a product in 3D, remember that 30% of your people probably can’t understand it. And by the way, another 30% have a 50/50 chance and only about 40% can actually understand information presented in 3D. The good news is that this will likely improve. Our third-generation of computer users are now entering the workforce, and these people are much better trained in new technology and 3D, thanks to things like smart-phones, computer games and the new generation of great CAD tools.
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